Here’s a fabulous idea to celebrate the coming of spring: a constellation of petite vases courtesy of your favorite tea tin.
FABULOUS VARIATIONS:
Tea not your thing? There are probably other containers and bottles around your pad begging for rescue: that sexy, skinny bottle of olive oil you just finished up. Wine bottles with graphic labels, those vibrant cans of imported tomato sauce.
Via Domino Magazine
This fabulous DIY wallpaper treatment came from a high-end Italian furniture catalog of all places. A $6,000 plus Italian-crafted bed set against a wallpaper of newspaper that costs–if recycled, almost nothing.
How to Fab Your Walls
It’s all about experimenting with what you’ve got. Look around your space, or a friend’s. You can use almost anything:
How to Make it Removable
If you’re a renter or a design chameleon it’s easy to make this treatment lease-friendly by using double-sided tape. Elmer’s Glue mixed with water is earth-friendly to boot because it’s non-toxic, removable with sponge and water and biodegradable.
Show Off Your Inner Warhol
Weekend warriors: e-mail us your photos of your fabulous wall makeover. If we like it, we’ll make you famous. Or at least give you kudos!
Tord Boontje has designed another elegant and modern light fixture. The 2nd Shadow table lamp is created out of a duet of ideas Boontje’s played with before: delicate, cascades of florals (think Garland Light), with translucent glowing sheets of mylar (think Icarus). The result is pure magic: a light that when on reflects enchanted shadows around a room, like something out of Shakepeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Made Extra Fabulous
Tord Boontje’s palette of materials typically involve lightweight metals and mylar – both of which are recyclable. But seriously, something this beautiful I’d keep around forever, wouldn’t you?
Check out the Studio Tord Boontje website to learn more about this amazing Dutch designer. The 2nd Shadow light can be purchased online at generate, and the MoMa store.
Looking for a quick style fix this weekend? Give any chair a fresh faced look by sewing a simple cushion. Sure you could upholster them in any fabric, but a rescued, vintage print injects an extra je ne sais quoi. Take this pair of cushions for example by Kim of Desire to Inspire:
[I] found two scarves at a cheesy store – they were $7.50 each. Not so sure about the left one, but I love the pattern on the right one. It’s ok that they don’t really match each other because they’re going on opposite sides of the bed.
Where to Score Fabrics
How Make the Stuffing
Sewing It Up
Upholster.com offers some basic tips to pillow making. Or take it to an upholsterer. For modern, high style patterns and tips give these books a try: Simple Sewing with a French Twist and Amy Butler’s In Stitches.
The rocking chair is one piece of furniture with a bad rap. Instead of being seen as dynamic and fun, it harkens associations of aging, stodginess, a bygone era that was soooo last century. Enter the Gotham Rocker.
I’m in love. Just look at it. It’s gorgeous and sculpturally interesting from all sides.
Designed by J. Persing Company (formerly Danko Persing), the Gotham Chair is actually made from surplus automotive seat belts, dyed with non-toxic water-based inks. Its lightweight form is intentional: great design with minimal material. It’s available in a wide selection of belt colors and wood stains. It makes a greener design alternative to fans of the iconic Risom Chair, and it’s more fun.
Interested in a little rocking chair trivia? Here’s what wikipedia says:
According to an american legend, the rocking chair was purportedly invented by Ben Franklin by simply taking a standard chair and adding rockers to it. Cabinetmakers began producing rocking chairs in the early nineteenth century, and many examples from that era still survive today. Their popularity has only increased, and antique rockers of many varieties are highly collectible today.
The Gotham Rocker retails around $1000 and was spotted at Vivavi.
Since when does something low wattage look this hot? Designer Monica Singer invites you to cut and create a one-of-a-kind pendant sculpture. The Cut Light arrives in raw form: a clear canister filled with lightweight, laser cut polyester ribbons and a complementary pair of shears. At an affordable price of $69US, anyone can snip the light fantastic.
What Makes It Fabulous:
This winged wonder puts the sexy in compact fluorescent lighting (hot incandescent bulbs will melt these babies). Energy-efficient, sculptural, cool.
Available at generate
Here’s a new one from British designer and Fab Green favorite Stuart Haygarth whom I love for his ability to transform castoff objects like plastic wine glasses and plastic containers into high style lighting here and here. This time he’s used old prescription lenses to create an enchanted chandelier called Optical.
The 1.5m diameter chandelier, which contains 3,000 lenses from unwanted eyeglasses, was premiered at the Trash Luxe exhibition at Liberty in London last month.
Haygarth has dabbled with recycled eyeglasses before — as seen in the above 2006 stunner that used both frames and lenses.
According to dezeen, Haygarth gets his lenses from from a charity that ships used spectacles to the developing world. I’m hoping this means these are cast-offs of the cast-offs, otherwise it sounds a little odd to take lenses away from the needy to design a high-end light fixture. Note to self to write the ingenious Haygarth myself.
Note: According to the January 2008 issue of Metropolis Magazine, the glasses were those deemed unusable by the charity.
It’s always exciting to see what’s new at Illu Stration, Mary Ann Williams’ German-based design studio known for innovating exquisitely tactile felt furnishings and accessories.
Mary Ann sent me these photos earlier in the summer (oops) but aren’t they perfect for late fall? Oak Leaves is a modular system which are either available assembled or as a do-it-yourself kit in a box for your own inspired creations.
Oak Leaves interlock into virtually any size or shape. Some suggestions from Mary Ann include shaping them into pendants (like the hot scarlet number shown above), rugs, wall panels, cushions, lampshades.
Softer and more enduring than a crunchy pile of freshly raked leaves…perfect for jumping on and rolling around in.
A snow white cushion, adds form, function and fun to any living space.
Like the pieces we’ve showcased before, these felt-Flokatis are made from renewable, biodegradable wool. Their interlocking nature means you can create and recreate to your heart’s content. For more information, visit the Illu Stration website.
Dear Fab Green,
I live in Washington DC and recently bought a new condo which I’m interested in furnishing with green furniture and accessories (most of what I have now is of the college junk variety, so in a lot of ways I’m starting over). Do you have any suggestions (besides “Come to LA, and bring a truck”)?
Thanks very much, Jenny
Hi Jenny,
I’ve enlisted the help of DC-based gal pal and fellow designer Nicole Foley for suggestions. For home furnishings she recommends two spots:
For style mongers, D.C.’s Craiglist is a treasure trove for mid-century modern finds, and Domino-inspired revival pieces. In fact, Nicole says it’s often easier to snag a deal on modern furniture in D.C. over L.A. since the demand for and knowledge of mid-century design is less developed. Maybe I should rent a truck and swing out your way!
Case in point: $299 chair by Brocade Home (left). A set of four selling for $100 total in Arlington (right)
For new, eco-friendly furnishings Nicole recommends:
Eco-Green Living.
1469 Church Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20005
Mon – Sat, 11am – 7pm
Tel: 202.234.7110
What you’ll find: an organic coffee/tea bar, corn-silk carpet tiles, low-odor and no-odor paints (many of them milk-based), organic tees, and solar-powered radios.
Thanks for writing Jenny!
This Brooklyn-based design-build studio knows how to look at something old in an unexpected way. Founded in 2004 by a quartet of designers, Uhuru is a company that loves to rescue materials around town and transform them into clean, contemporary furnishings. Their latest love is heart pine, a popular construction material 25 years ago. This beautifully-grained wood is excavated from demolished buildings and given second life — like the Stoolen Lite stool above.
This Fenced In table converts an abandoned cast iron fence into furniture. This collection is all manufactured locally in Red Hook Brooklyn.
You can find more pieces and work by Uhuru on their website.
